


The Leak

by Ladyofwarandmercy



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Male Friendship, Spies & Secret Agents, respect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-24
Updated: 2015-03-24
Packaged: 2018-03-19 10:08:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3606228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladyofwarandmercy/pseuds/Ladyofwarandmercy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I love novelizing my metas. This is my personal take of the Ward Is A Triple Agent Theory that is out there. I am also assuming Robert Gonzales is a good SHIELD agent who simply thinks Fury was out of place handing the Toolbox to Coulson. I am fully expecting both theories to be Whedoned a few hours from now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Leak

MARCH 26, 2013 THE TRISKELION:

Robert Gonzales had an interesting item on his calendar today. Agent Prickles With An Emphasis On Prick had made an appointment to see him. Which was….quite the development. Prickles was always Garrett’s lapdog, and Gonzales never could stand the man. He idly wondered why all of a sudden Grant Ward, and by extension John Garrett, wanted to see him. Ward walked in, all too-put-together and counterfeit swagger. Gonzales could detect a slight sneer as Ward lay the briefcase that happened to perfectly match his belt and shoes on the table. He opened the briefcase and activated some device therein. Gonzales noticed a slight twitch on Ward’s too-perfect face as the frequency of the beep went out of Gonzales’s own hearing range. Nope, Gonzales at that moment didn’t miss some things about being young. Ward also took an old Colt revolver from the inside of the briefcase and laid it on the table. Gonzales would have reached for his intercom to call Security, but it seemed Ward’s little device had disabled his comlink, along with disabling any known or unknown bugs in the room. Gonzales subtly opened his drawer, and was going to reach for his own pistol when Ward began his little speech.

“No need for you to get your own weapon, Gonzales, I am supposed to make you an offer or kill you when you reject it. But the people who sent me don’t know that a third offer is actually on the table. You’ve been getting way too close to a major project of ours, and it has made some very influential people nervous. I’m supposed to ask you to back off or look the other way. I’m supposed to dose you with succinylcholine and let you die if you refuse. But today is your lucky day. Garrett and I think that this plan you are way too close to stumbling onto won’t turn out the way it should. Your attitudes regarding alien influence on Earth are well known, right? Well, suffice it to say John Garrett and I feel the same way about artificial intelligence. There is a conspiracy within SHIELD, a conspiracy John Garrett has been using for their…lack of restraint in medical research. But not being a true believer, Garrett fears he will end up on the assassination list. Since I have been sent to threaten you, you are obviously not part of the conspiracy in question, so we come to you. In return for blanket immunity for John Garrett and myself, as well as pretending to back off from your investigation, we are prepared to give you enough warning and information that maybe something of SHIELD might survive the endgame HYDRA has planned for them….”

NOVEMBER 10, 2013 THE HUB:

The man who walked into Gonzales’s office at The Hub, knowing how late he often had to work, was a very different man. To be sure, Ward was still, as his daughter would call it, “on fleek,” even casually dressed, but something intangible was different about him. Vic was about to send him and some egghead into Ossetia the next day, no extraction plan. He’d seen Prickles get out of worse, so he doubted Ward was contemplating his own mortality. Something else had happened to him on Coulson’s team. Gonzales was curious enough to let whatever it was come out in casual conversation. “I didn’t get feelers from Garrett this time, so you must be here on your own,” Gonzales began, after engaging his own anti-bug device. “Have you used what Garrett and I have given you thus far?” Grant countered, cutting to the chase. Gonzales rolled his eyes and smiled, “As little as you have given me. Something about a mass assassination list compiled by an algorithm written by an AI in control of HYDRA, which has somehow infiltrated SHIELD at such a high level, I have to keep Fury in the dark, so he doesn’t go off on Franklin Pierce. But yes, I have taken precautions. No, I won’t tell you what they are. You’re HYDRA, remember?” Ward nodded. “I am prepared to give you the rest of the story. The timeline on this plan has been moved up by about a year. I can tell you the vehicle for the mass assassinations…is Project Insight.” Gonzales was surprised his chin wasn’t bruised when his jaw dropped to the desk. What was a Level 7 not directly assigned to the Project supposed to know about it? Ward seemed nonplussed at Gonzales’s shock. “All of HYDRA knows about Project Insight. But if you want all the information I have to give you, I have more conditions. Not only immunity for John Garrett and myself, but on the flash drive I am going to give you, there is a list of people for whom I want you to make a plan to take them into some form of protective custody. As much as I can’t stand my mother, father, or older brother, for example, they don’t deserve what HYDRA would do in retaliation. I am confident I will be able to keep my cover, both with HYDRA and with SHIELD, until they are safe. I would ask one more thing. The person who unwittingly helped me compile this data is…my rookie. If I have…overestimated my ability to survive, I would…appreciate a second set of eyes on her.” _And now here it is_ , thought Gonzales. _The poor bastard fell in love_. “Ward, there’s only so much I can do without tipping my hand. I can’t tip my hand any more than you can tip yours. Your best bet is to keep her close to Coulson, for a whole lot of reasons. I will try to put a bug in Fury’s ear. Give him a fighting chance. He deserves that. You handle your rookie and all the people on your list within SHIELD, I will have a plan for those not in SHIELD.” The two men shook hands, and passed the flash drive.

MAY 16, 2014 CAPTAIN MORGAN CLUB, GLOBE LIFE PARK, ARLINGTON, TX

The Rangers game below, with the cheering crowd was enough to drown out any bugs as the comparatively somber group around an obscure table near the bathroom analyzed the information from the Cybertek raid in New Mexico three days before. The only real risk to meeting in a public place was being inadvertently caught on some drunk baseball fan’s Instagram and being recognized. The photostatic veils on the faces around the table took care of that. Every man and woman around the table was just grateful to be alive, and Gonzales was sure the drinking would continue after everyone around the table left for wherever they had all decided to hole up. He paused for a moment as a name on the casualty list, on the HYDRA side, caught his eye: _Ward, Grant Douglas_. He closed his eyes, crossed himself, and lifted a silent glass to a man who had saved all of their lives, and died for love. The fact his name was on the HYDRA side of the ledger meant Ward’s cover had stayed intact until the end. No need to disrupt anyone’s life, now. That, in Gonzales’s book, was a true hero. The statuesque redhead who sat across from him gave him a dubious look, which Gonzales quickly buried in a question. “Morse, we are going to need eyes on both Coulson and HYDRA now. Isabelle is handling the Coulson side of things along with Mack, but if I know Coulson before this alien whateveritis took over his mind, he’s going to get someone in himself. This person is going to need to get out, and I don’t think alien goo is going to make him any better at forming extraction plans then he was back at the Academy. We need Fury’s toolbox. Fury had no business breaking BACKUP protocol and handing that off to Captain TAHITI. You in?" Bobbi Morse, disguised as she was, smiled brightly. “You know I’m in, Gonzo.”

NOVEMBER 15, 2014, FACEBOOK SERVER, VIRGINIA

James Taylor “JT” James posted a picture of a distinct awning on a restaurant in a less-fashionable part of the Boston area in the group “Roger Ricardo’s Ex-Roommates And Other Miscreants.” He tagged Roger Ricardo, and captioned it, “I can’t wait to plan the reunion Monday.” After about thirty minutes, Roger Ricardo “liked” JT James’s picture. 

NOVEMBER 17, 2014 LA GRANADA, ROXBURY, MA

The restaurant wasn’t much on décor, and the regulars who came here were not wealthy by any means. But the food was good enough that Robert Gonzales would violate his rule of not eating Mexican food in any state that did not border Mexico. Grant Ward sat across from him. Given his face was right now all over the papers, he was in a photostatic veil. The suit he was wearing was quite nice, well-tailored, but not tailored for his body. “HYDRA did have you well-staked-out, Mister Gonzales. They knew you liked this place, so I didn’t have to draw you a map. I took care of the bugs here yesterday, so we can talk freely.” Gonzales sipped his beer and asked, “Where’d you get the suit?” Ward brightened, “You like it? Sunil Bakshi has excellent taste, don’t you think? He just needs to do some more arm work, and lay off the donuts from the cart outside the HYDRA building. Hope I managed to get the bloodstains out.” Both men cracked up laughing for a minute. Maybe a little longer than the joke was actually funny. Grant Ward having escaped Coulson was the best news Gonzales had had all week. “So, Ward, why the actual Hell are you still in the Boston area? You have your cached money. Rent a car and take a tailwind until the heat is off.” Ward shook his head, “There are a couple of things I have to do. One of them I can do myself, for her. One of them I’m going to need your help. Did you make the custody arrangements for my parents and brother? I think my sister-in-law is better off as a grieving widow than an angry and potentially talkative estranged wife. Especially if she’s going to need protection from her craaazy brother-in-law.” Ward waved and smiled to indicate himself. Gonzales nodded. “I made the arrangements as soon as my guy on the inside of Coulson’s team confirmed you were in Vault D. What do you have in mind? Grant Ward smiled, steepled his fingers and began, “I figure I can kill two birds with one stone. I can get three of my non-SHIELD list safe and in custody in a way that will make me look crazy enough for Whitehall….”

DECEMBER 25, 2014, FACEBOOK SERVER, NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

A new message appeared on “Roger Ricardo’s Ex-Roommates and Other Miscreants” wishing all the Miscreants out there a Merry Christmas. Two hours later, JT James “liked” the message.

DECEMBER 25, 2014, ALBUQUERQUE, NM

Robert Gonzales smiled, shook his head, and said, “ _Mijo_ , you are truly crazy, and you have more lives than a cat.” He hit the “sleep” button on his burner smartphone and went to Christmas dinner with his family.

**Author's Note:**

> I am not in any way dissing Bakshi, and certainly not Simon Kassaniades when talking about the fit of the suit. Ward's just talking crap.


End file.
